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2012-01-22

New Additions to the Blog

So, whaddya think of the new logo? Cool, huh?

I've managed to successful waste my entire weekend tinkering around with my blogs, shuffling things around, adding this, removing that. I did experiment with some new template designs, with no success, so I'm continuing to stay with the current designs for Ghibli Blog and Vol 4.

The big addition, of course, is a proper Ghibli Blog logo. My fairly limited Paint Shop Pro skills no doubt affected things, but I managed to teach myself how to create a transparent .gif, so that's good. I always wanted to avoid the usual cliches, like Totoro or Catbus or Miyazaki on the logo. It had to look stylish and cool, capture the style and content of the site, and fit the overall design.

I had added a new favicon to this site, and I used the same graphic for my Twitter page. The blue Nausicaa graphic made a perfect icon for the logo. Nausicaa also happens to be my favorite Miyazaki work (both the manga and film). I sweated blood to create this and I'm quite proud.

In addition, I've also updated a lot of the links in the Downloads and Videos section. Once again, a lot of YouTube videos have been taken down because media companies who own the copyrights, apparently, don't want you to learn about their movies. They'd much rather let their DVDs collect dust in empty warehouses than actually, ya know, advertise them. This fits in perfectly with the battle over SOPA/PIPA. The movie industry has to understand a critical fact - In the Internet Age, exposure is the coin of the realm. Closing down movie trailers on YouTube is absolutely suicidal. Those who fail to adapt will go extinct.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the changes. Thanks for your support and your endless contributions in making Ghibli Blog the absolute best it can be.

7 comments:

I have to confess it took me a few seconds to figure out the new logo... (and I thought of the Laputa plane first...). I hope that doesn't upset you :-/ (Haven't watched Nausicaa in a while, so maybe that's to be blamed.)

Grrrr about people claiming copyrights on video clips which you put up to advertise their films! It's something I don't get... it's good for them to have trailers on Youtube! Exposure is everything, indeed!

I create abstract visual art. Of course I don't mind. The important thing is that it looks cool. I did sample from the other movies, but Nausicaa fit the best.

Now that I think of it, I should create the same style of logo for Daniel Thomas Vol 4. I'd probably use one of my own paintings in the square, and maybe a different font, but it's all good. Streamline everything!

(Hey, wouldn't that be great if this really was from Studio Ghibli in Japan? Not that they have any time to goof off, but it would be very cool).

I would LOVE to redesign the website, but I'm almost certainly going to need some programmers to make it happen. Free Blogger templates are inadequate and never work out. For now, this template is effective, but we'll see if there are any changes this year.

Oh, and this recent "flurry of activity" is actually supposed to be my normal output! I take my cues from the politics blogs, which update and publish constantly, all day long. I'm actually trying to hold a steady pace, so I don't overwhelm Ghibli Blog's readers, and posts are quickly forgotten.

Thanks for the support, as always. Now get back to work before Miyazaki-san sees you!

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